Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that we are better than prepared on this and we will not shirk any of our commitments and that medicare is one of the highest priorities of the government. It will not be unprotected in NAFTA or open to competition by the NAFTA signatories.
The federal government has been working for over a year with the provinces to ensure the broadest possible protection for our health system within the existing provisions of NAFTA.
In recent weeks the Minister of Health has been working very closely with his colleagues, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for International Trade, to clarify and resolve the issue.
Within NAFTA, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico each has its own social service reservations entitled annex II which exempts health and other social services from key NAFTA requirements such as the most favoured nation or national treatment. This exemption protects our health system. It means Canada and provincial governments maintain the flexibility and control they need to operate and decide what is best for the health system.
The exemption for health and other services applies to the extent that these sectors exist for "a public purpose". Each of the NAFTA partners must interpret the meaning of public purpose to the situation in its own country. NAFTA does not make that definition.
The scope and coverage of annex II are being interpreted as broadly as possible to provide maximum protection for Canada's health system. The great majority of health services exist for public service and are considered to fall within the exemption of annex II reservation.
I know you are trying to get me to close, Mr. Speaker, but perhaps you will allow me to make the point the hon. member opposite so clearly wants to have made. Do I have the unanimous consent of the House?